Keep

Self-custodial key management for Nostr and Bitcoin.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Quick Start
• CLI Reference
• Remote Signing (NIP-46)
• Bitcoin
• Threshold Signatures (FROST)
• Agent SDK
• AWS Nitro Enclaves
• Hidden Volumes
• Configuration
• Security
• Development

---

Installation

cargo install --path keep-cli

Requires Rust 1.70+.

From source:

git clone https://github.com/privkeyio/keep
cd keep
cargo build --release
./target/release/keep --help

---

Quick Start

# Create your encrypted vault
keep init

# Generate a new Nostr key
keep generate --name main

# List your keys
keep list

Keys are stored encrypted at ~/.keep.

---

CLI Reference

Command	Description
keep init	Create encrypted vault
keep generate --name <n>	Generate new key
keep import --name <n>	Import existing nsec
keep list	List all keys
keep export --name <n>	Export nsec
keep delete --name <n>	Delete key
keep serve	Start NIP-46 remote signer

---

Remote Signing (NIP-46)

Sign from any NIP-46 compatible client without exposing your private key:

keep serve --relay wss://nos.lol

This displays a bunker URL to paste into your client.

Controls: Y approve, N reject, Q quit

---

Bitcoin

BIP-86 Taproot addresses and PSBT signing:

# Get receive address
keep bitcoin address --key main

# Get change address
keep bitcoin address --key main --change

# Export watch-only descriptor
keep bitcoin descriptor --key main

# Analyze PSBT
keep bitcoin analyze --psbt unsigned.psbt

# Sign PSBT
keep bitcoin sign --key main --psbt unsigned.psbt

---

Threshold Signatures (FROST)

Split keys into t-of-n shares for distributed signing.

Local Operations

# Create new 2-of-3 threshold key
keep frost generate --threshold 2 --shares 3

# Split existing key into shares
keep frost split --key main -t 2 -s 3

# List shares
keep frost list

# Export share (encrypted with passphrase)
keep frost export --share 1 --group npub1...

# Import share
keep frost import

# Sign with local shares
keep frost sign --group npub1... --message <hex>

Network Signing

Coordinate signing across devices over nostr relays:

# Device 2: Start signer node
keep frost network serve --group npub1... --relay wss://nos.lol

# Device 1: Check online peers
keep frost network peers --group npub1...

# Device 1: Request signature
keep frost network sign --group npub1... --message "hello"

# Device 1: Sign nostr event
keep frost network sign-event --group npub1... --kind 1 --content "Posted via FROST"

---

Agent SDK

Secure signing for AI agents with constrained sessions.

Python

pip install keep-agent

from keep_agent import AgentSession, SessionScope, RateLimit

session = AgentSession(
    scope=SessionScope.nostr_only(),
    rate_limit=RateLimit.conservative(),
    duration_hours=24,
)

if session.check_operation("sign_nostr_event"):
    session.record_request()

info = session.get_session_info()
print(f"Requests remaining: {info.requests_remaining}")

LangChain:

from keep_agent import AgentSession
from keep_agent.langchain import KeepSignerTool

session = AgentSession()
tool = KeepSignerTool(session=session)

CrewAI:

from keep_agent import AgentSession
from keep_agent.crewai import create_keep_tools

session = AgentSession()
tools = create_keep_tools(session)

TypeScript

npm install @keep/agent

import { KeepAgentSession, createNostrScope } from '@keep/agent';

const session = new KeepAgentSession(createNostrScope());
const info = await session.getSessionInfo();

MCP Server (Claude/Cursor)

Add to your MCP configuration:

{
  "servers": {
    "keep-signer": {
      "command": "keep",
      "args": ["mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "KEEP_SESSION_TOKEN": "keep_sess_...",
        "KEEP_BUNKER_URL": "bunker://npub1.../wss://relay.example.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

---

AWS Nitro Enclaves

Hardware-isolated signing—keys never leave enclave memory.

# Check enclave status
keep enclave status

# Verify attestation
keep enclave verify

# Generate key in enclave
keep enclave generate-key --name agent

# Import from vault to enclave
keep enclave import-key --name agent --from-vault mykey

# Sign message
keep enclave sign --key agent --message <hex>

# Sign PSBT
keep enclave sign-psbt --key agent --psbt tx.psbt --network testnet

Local testing (insecure, dev only):

keep enclave generate-key --name test --local
keep enclave sign --key test --message <hex> --local

See docs/ENCLAVE.md for deployment.

---

Hidden Volumes

Plausibly deniable storage—hidden volume is cryptographically undetectable:

# Create vault with hidden volume
KEEP_PASSWORD="outer" KEEP_HIDDEN_PASSWORD="hidden" keep --hidden init

# Access outer (decoy) volume
KEEP_PASSWORD="outer" keep list

# Access hidden volume
KEEP_PASSWORD="hidden" keep --hidden list

---

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
KEEP_PASSWORD	Vault password (avoids interactive prompt)
KEEP_HIDDEN_PASSWORD	Hidden volume password (with --hidden flag)
KEEP_PATH	Custom vault path (default: ~/.keep)

---

Security

Feature	Implementation
Key Derivation	Argon2id (256MB memory, 4 iterations)
Encryption	XChaCha20-Poly1305
Checksums	BLAKE2b
RAM Protection	Keys encrypted with Ascon-128a, zeroized on drop
Code Safety	Pure Rust, #![forbid(unsafe_code)]
Threshold Sigs	FROST with BIP-340 Schnorr
Hardware Isolation	AWS Nitro Enclaves with attestation-based KMS

---

Development

# Build
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

# Debug logging
RUST_LOG=debug cargo run --bin keep -- <command>

---

License

AGPL-3.0